After a childhood in Moscow during which he attended the most famous art schools in Moscow, the events of October 1917 forced with his family to leave Russia.

He travels around the world, a passion for hunting animals and then moved to France in 1927 where he attended the game and artistic circles. At this time he takes the pseudonym Riab and will be considered by all hunters as the best painter "sauvaginier" of the twentieth century.

He left Paris after the death of his first wife and settled in Sarthe, in St Vincent from Lorouër. He lived until his death in 1975